Archlinux Install

Sep 18, 2023 · 3 min read · archlinux ·

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Guide to install archlinux with minimal configuration

Connect to wifi

Enter iwd console

1iwctl

Inside the iwd console

1device list
2station wlan0 scan
3station wlan0 get-networks
4station wlan0 connect "SSID_value"

Partiion

Use fdisk or cfdisk to partition the drives

fdisk options

for FAT32 partiton set the type to 1. EFI using t

Assign filesystem types

1mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1
2mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2

After partitioning is complete the directory structure should look like this

1.
2└── mnt
3    ├── boot
4    │   └── efi
5    ├── etc
6    │   └── fstab
7    └── home

Use genfstab command to generate /etc/fstab

1genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
2
3# Check using
4cat /mnt/etc/fstab

Keyring

For archlinux keyring use pacman-key command

To refresh some or all keys

1pacman-key --refresh-keys

To reinitialize all keys

1pacman-key --init
2pacman-key --populate archlinux

Chroot

Install base packages

1pacstrap -i /mnt base vi

Chroot

1arch-chroot /mnt

Uncomment the following line /etc/pacman.conf using vi editor

1ParallelDownloads=5

Install Packages

 1sudo pacman -S --needed base-devel
 2sudo pacman -S --needed nano neovim
 3sudo pacman -S --needed linux linux-headers
 4sudo pacman -S --needed linux-lts linux-lts-headers
 5sudo pacman -S --needed linux-firmware sof-firmware
 6sudo pacman -S --needed sudo # Should be in base-devel
 7sudo pacman -S --needed openssh networkmanager wpa_supplicant wireless_tools netctl
 8sudo pacman -S --needed ntfs-3g btrfs-progs exfatprogs lvm2
 9sudo pacman -S --needed dialog
10sudo pacman -S --needed intel-ucode

Graphics Drivers

1sudo pacman -S --needed mesa
2# sudo pacman -S --needed nvidia nvidia-lts

Build Linux Image

1mkinitcpio -p linux linux-lts

Locale

Set locale Edit /etc/locale.gen Uncomment the following line

1en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8

Generate locale

1locale-gen

Create users

Set root passwd

1passwd

Create user

1useradd -m -G wheel name_of_user
2
3# Can also do
4# useradd -m -g users -G wheel name_of_user

Set the user's password

1passwd name_of_user

Edit /etc/sudoers

1EDITOR=nano visudo

Uncomment or add the following line

1%wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

GRUB

Installing grub

1sudo pacman -S --needed grub os-prober dosfstools mtools
2sudo pacman -S --needed efibootmgr

Create /boot/efi/EFI directory and mount the FAT32 filesystem in it

1mkdir -p /boot/efi/EFI

1# mount /dev/sda1 /boot/efi/EFI

Now, for UEFI install

1grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --bootloader-id="archlinux_grub_uefi" --recheck
2
3# Verify using
4ls -l /boot/grub

Copy

1cp /usr/share/locale/en\@quot/LC_MESSAGES/grub.mo /boot/grub/locale/en.mo

Build /boot/grub/grub.cfg

1grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Now, exit the chroot environment

1exit

Post install

List timezones

1sudo timedatectl list-timezones

Set timezone

1sudo timedatectl set-timezone Asia/Kolkata

Set hardware clock running in UTC

1sudo timedatectl set-local-rtc 0

Check current timedate settings

1sudo timedatectl status

Set hostname

1sudo hostnamectl set-hostname archlinux_hostname

Edit /etc/hosts

1127.0.0.1 localhost
2127.0.1.1 archlinux_hostname

Now, you may install xorg and window manager or a full blown desktop environment

Experimental

Reflector

1reflector -c "India" -a 6 --sort rate --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist